TALLADEGA, Ala. — Perhaps the wildest qualifying session in Sprint Cup Series history produced a wildly unpredictable result.

Brian Scott, a Nationwide Series driver who competes sparingly in Sprint Cup, won the pole for Sunday's Aaron's 499 with a last-lap run in Saturday's knockout qualifying session. He'll lead the field to the green flag in just his fifth Cup start.

"It's pretty surreal," Scott said. "Normally as a rookie you don't come into these Sprint Cup (races) and expect to get on the pole, but it's just happened."

The session was unlike any in Sprint Cup Series history because it was the first time the new knockout qualifying format had been used on a restrictor-plate track.

Teams had a clear strategy to group together and catch the right run at the right time, but it meant having to dodge other clumps doing the same thing. That created a wide discrepancy in speeds, but there were no incidents.

The Childress-powered teams met Friday night and worked together in Saturday afternoon's session. They stuck together in the final round, even when there was a bizarre-looking stalemate for more than two minutes when it started.

When everyone finally got rolling, RCR's Newman served as the point man with the others following in line behind. It looked as if Stewart-Haas Racing's Tony Stewart would claim the pole as time ran out, but he dropped all the way to 12th on the final lap.

"More than anything, it was just a great plan by everyone at RCR to get all the RCR alliance cars working together," Allmendinger said. "Starting position isn't that important here, but to get all the RCR alliance cars up front is a good thing, so it worked out."

Despite not competing full-time in the Cup Series, Scott is now eligible for next year's season-opening Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway. But his time up front Sunday might not last long; Scott said he's well aware his inexperience might discourage veterans from working with him.

"I've got that dreaded yellow (rookie) stripe on my back bumper, and that's going to make people run away from me like I've got the plague," Scott said. "… Hopefully they can gain a little faith in us so we can be around and have some friends at the end of this race."

The standoff at the start of the third round wasn't the only strange moment in the qualifying session. Several teams waited too long at the end of the Round 2, then tried to make one last lap to get into the top 12. But they rolled off pit road with less than 40 seconds left, which didn't leave enough time to make it back around to take the green flag.

Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano — who had made every final round this year — was among those who didn't advance.

"Kind of unfortunate," Logano said. "I wish we could do it again."

Some major names didn't even make it that far, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Michael Waltrip and Denny Hamlin — all of whom failed to make it out of Round 1.